- Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

World wide VVTNS series: Wednesday, December 4, 2024, at 11:00 am EST| Laura Driscoll Allen Institute
by David Hansel Dec. 1, 2024

Dec. 1, 2024

[image: VVTNS.png] https://www.wwtns.online <https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.on…> - on twitter: wwtns@TheoreticalWide You are cordially invited to the lecture given by Laura Driscoll Allen Institute on the topic of Task structure shapes underlying dynamical systems that implement computation The lecture will be held on zoom on Wednesday, December 4, 2024, at *11:00 am EST * To receive the zoom link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page *Abstract: *The talk will be in two parts. 1) First, I will present published work on multitasking artificial recurrent neural networks that revealed "dynamical motifs". Dynamical motifs are recurring patterns of network activity that implement specific computations through dynamics, such as attractors, decision boundaries and rotations. Motifs are reused across tasks and reflect the modular subtask structure of commonly studied cognitive tasks. We believe this compositional structure to be a feature of most complex cognitive tasks. This work establishes dynamical motifs as a fundamental unit of compositional computation, intermediate between neuron and network. 2) Building on these insights, we are now investigating whether shared dynamical motifs can explain the effectiveness of curriculum learning in animal behavior. Also known as animal shaping, curriculum learning is a training approach where complex tasks are learned in stages through a series of subtasks. Our work provides a novel framework for analysis of neural and behavioral data and has the potential to guide the design of optimal training protocols for both artificial systems and for animals. *About VVTNS : Launched as the World Wide Theoretical Neuroscience Seminar (WWTNS) in November 2020 and renamed in homage to Carl van Vreeswijk in Memoriam (April 20, 2022), Speakers have the occasion to talk about theoretical aspects of their work which cannot be discussed in a setting where the majority of the audience consists of experimentalists. The seminars, **held on Wednesdays at 11 am ET,** are 45-50 min long followed by a discussion. The talks are recorded with authorization of the speaker and are available to everybody on our YouTube channel.* ᐧ

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Postdoc in animal behaviour at Bristol University
by Conor Houghton Nov. 30, 2024

Nov. 30, 2024

We have a new BBSRC funded project that will develop automated methods to quantify reward learning in chickens and dogs as well as expanding studies in mice. The project will involve both behavioural studies and working with engineers to develop novel automated devices to test reward learning in animals with minimal human interactions. The ultimate goal will be to validate methods for the unbiased assessment of animal welfare. This is an exciting opportunity to study behaviour in non-laboratory conditions and across species, including in chickens, an endlessly fascinating social animal. We are looking for someone interested in animal behaviour and keen to work on novel devices; we welcome applicants with a computer science or engineering background who is excited to be involved in experiments, or someone with an experimental background eager to learn a bit of programming and some modelling. Deadline 2024-12-17, details at https://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/details/?nPostingId=185738&nPostingTarg… and feel free to email me, as co-I, or Emma Robinson the PI (emma.s.j.robinson(a)bristol.ac.uk) for any informal queries. All the best Con ______________________________ Conor Houghton SEMT, Bristol University. Michael Ventris Building, Woodland Road BS8 1UB, Bristol conorhoughton.github.io pronouns: he / him

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Post-Doct Position in brain-inspired AI development at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
by Kirst, ChrIstoph Nov. 30, 2024

Nov. 30, 2024

Post-Doctoral Researcher at UCSF and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in brain inspired AI development – start date ASAP Position Description We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher for a three-year project within the Kirst lab at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) located in San Francisco and Berkeley, California, USA. The project is at the interface between brain-inspired AI-Development and energy efficient neuro-morphic hardware development. Start date is as soon as possible (date may be negotiable) and will last for approximately 36 months. The post-doctoral researcher will join a team of researchers at UCSF and LBNL to develop on a new brain inspired AI technology for fast long sequence processing with applications to neuroscience, neuro-prosthetics and well as edge computing applications, including analysis of large data streams form X-ray microscopy and spectroscopy performed at LBNL. The AI technology will be co-developed to run on energy efficient neuro-morphic hardware based on CMOS and superconducting electronics with teams at LBNL and University of Southern California. A mix of theoretical, algorithmic and AI development work is expected, as well as communicating closely with our hardware teams. We are interested in maintaining the rich diversity in our work teams and encourage applications from all interested candidates. Qualifications The ideal candidate will have a PhD, strong quantitative, dynamical systems, computational neuroscience, and machine learning skills, experience in developing AI models, and enthusiasm for advancing AI hardware technologies. The candidate should be creative, enjoy problem-solving, and developing new tools, and be prepared to collaborate within a larger team with diverse expertise. Appropriate background/training includes systems or engineering, physics, machine learning and data science, as well as computer science. Application Instructions Please send your motivation letter, CV with publication list, one-page personal research statement, and contact information of three referees, to with subject line “[CV-POSTDOC] <Your Name>” to christoph.kirst(a)ucsf.edu Job Type: 100% Work Location: In person or remote (within the USA) Funding: The project is a collaborative project funded by the Department of Energy's Advancements in Artificial Intelligence for Science program. Christoph Kirst Assistant Professor Department of Anatomy Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience University of California San Francisco Faculty Scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Sandler Neuroscience Building 675 Nelson Rising Lane, Suite 514G San Francisco, 94158, CA, USA Phone: 415-502-7372 https://profiles.ucsf.edu/christoph.kirst [cid:5776af05-17bc-46c3-9061-4f3a4a9ee2c9]

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2024 Bonsai Developer Conference
by Joaquin Rapela Nov. 29, 2024

Nov. 29, 2024

Hello, We are excited to invite you to the 2024 Bonsai Developer Conference, taking place from December 2nd to 4th, 2024, at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre in London, UK. This event brings together neuroscience researchers, computational scientists, and software engineers with a shared interest in the Bonsai visual reactive programming language. The conference program and additional details can be found at https://conference.bonsai-rx.org/2024/ About Bonsai ------------ Bonsai https://bonsai-rx.org/ is an open-source reactive visual programming language widely use for neuroscience experimental control. Differently from standard programming languages where control flow is specified by composing sequences of instructions, and checking conditional loops for the occurrence of events, in reactive languages https://introtorx.com/ the control flow is specified by composing event streams. By placing asynchronous data streams front and centre, it becomes much easier to succinctly build complex programs manipulating hundreds of parallel data sources and controllers while retaining interoperability and modularity. Bonsai is a visual programming language where programs are laid out graphically. Each node represents a data stream, and edges represent input dependencies between streams. Parameters can be manipulated dynamically and every stream can be inspected at runtime. This graphical approach allows users with no programming experience to create complex asynchronous programs, and experienced Bonsai users to very quickly deploy and manage entire systems and applications. Bonsai is able to interface with a large number of experimental hardware for neuroscience experimental control, allowing researchers to easily build sophisticated experiments. We look forward to see you in London! Best regards, Goncalo Lopes g.lopes(a)neurogears.org Nicholas Guilbeault n.guilbeault(a)ucl.ac.uk Joaquin Rapela j.rapela(a)ucl.ac.uk

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Tenure-Track, Assistant/Associate Professor in Computational Neuroscience
by Kenneth Kishida Nov. 27, 2024

Nov. 27, 2024

I’m very excited to announce a new recruitment effort in the Department of Translational Neuroscience at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. I’m chairing an inclusive and diverse search committee with the hopes of expanding computational neuroscience in our highly collaborative and supportive department. Please read more and repost this ad for a new tenure track (Asst/Assoc) faculty position. Please follow the link here: Computational Neuroscience Job Posting<https://emis.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1…> -- Kenneth T. Kishida, PhD (he/him) Associate Professor Wake Forest University School of Medicine Department of Translational Neuroscience Department of Neurosurgery Department of Biomedical Engineering Bowman Gray Center for Medical Education, 475 Vine St. Winston Salem, NC 27101 office: 336-716-0419 lab: 336-716-8537 email: kkishida(a)wakehealth.edu https://school.wakehealth.edu/Faculty/K/Ken-Kishida (viz: www.kishidalab.com<http://www.kishidalab.com> ) ________________________________ This electronic message is intended only for the use of the individual(s) and entity named as recipients in the message. If you are not an intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer. Do not deliver, distribute or copy this message, and do not disclose its contents or take any action in reliance on the information it contains. Thank you.

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GEM2025 - Conference on generative episodic memory - call for abstracts
by Vinita Samarasinghe Nov. 27, 2024

Nov. 27, 2024

The DFG-funded research consortium “FOR 2812 – Constructing scenarios of the past” is proud to announce a *call for abstracts* for its biennial conference “/Generative Episodic Memory: Interdisciplinary perspectives from neuroscience, psychology and philosophy/” *GEM 202**5.* It will be held *in person* at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany from 2^nd to 4^th June, 2025. For more information please visit https://for2812.rub.de/gem2025. Episodic memories are widely regarded as memories of personally experienced events. Early concepts about episodic memory were based on the storage model, according to which experiential content is preserved in memory and later retrieved. However, overwhelming empirical evidence suggests that the content of episodic memory is – at least to a certain degree – constructed in the act of remembering. Even though very few contemporary researchers would oppose this view of episodic memory as a generative process, it has not become the standard paradigm of empirical memory research. This is particularly true for studies of the neural correlates of episodic memory. Further hindering progress are large conceptual differences regarding episodic memory across different fields, such as neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. This interdisciplinary conference therefore aims to bring together researchers from all relevant fields to advance the state of the art in the research on generative episodic memory. *Keynote speakers: * Ali Boyle (LSE); Neil Burgess (UCL); Iris Engelhard (U. Utrecht); Johannes Mahr (York U.); Jeremy Manning (Dartmouth) *Funding for early career researchers is available *(visit our ECR page <https://for2812.rub.de/gem2025/early_career_researcher_programs> for more details). *Abstract* submission deadline: 15.03.2025 Submission guidelines: Abstracts must be submitted in English and be no longer than 500 words. Submitted work must be original and unpublished and submitted electronically at https://www.conftool.net/gem202 <https://www.conftool.net/gem2023/>5/ <https://www.conftool.net/gem2023/>. Types of submissions: * Talk * Symposium: Must comprise 3 talks and be interdisciplinary in nature, i.e., talks must cover at least two of the following disciplines: computational neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience. * Poster /*For more information please visit https://for2812.rub.de or contact Vinita Samarasinghe at for2812(a)rub.de*/ Kind regards, Vinita -- Vinita Samarasinghe M.Sc., M.A. Science Manager Arbeitsgruppe Computational Neuroscience Institut für Neuroinformatik Ruhr-Universität Bochum, NB 3/73 Postfachnummer 110 Universitätstr. 150 D-44801 Bochum Tel: +49 (0)234 32 27996 Email:samarasinghe@ini.rub.de

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Looking for a lead designer at Thinking About Thinking (educational neuroAI non-profit that organizes conferences)
by Ruairidh Battleday Nov. 26, 2024

Nov. 26, 2024

Dear Mind, Brain, and AI researchers, We very much enjoyed meeting many of you at Thinking About Thinking <http://www.thinkingaboutthinking.org/> events this past year, with some still to come in Boston <http://www.algopreneurship.ai/>! We are an educational non-profit that holds open-access research conferences and Summits on foundational computational questions in cognitive science, neuroscience, and machine learning / AI. At Thinking About Thinking we are scaling up, aiming to run more, larger open-access events and beginning to produce extra content---podcasts, blogs, interviews, etc. As part of that process, we are looking for a lead designer (who would be paid on a per-hour basis, but be a full part of the ThAT team). It is very important to us to have someone that understands cognitive science, neuroscience, and AI to do the design work, as we are very keen on keeping these sets of concepts at our core. If you think you are that person, want to join an extremely fun team working at the cutting-edge of science and society, or know anyone that might, please do reach out! Many thanks for the attention, and all the best! Ruairidh and the Team -- Dr Ruairidh McLennan Battleday BMBCh (Oxon) PhD President Thinking About Thinking (www.thinkingaboutthinking.org) Postdoctoral Research Fellow Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, MIT

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CFP - 2025 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Its Social Impacts (ARSO 2025)
by nagai.yukie＠mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp Nov. 26, 2024

Nov. 26, 2024

Dear colleagues, 2025 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Robotics and Its Social Impacts (ARSO 2025) July 17th-19th, 2025, Osaka, Japan https://ieee-arso.org Advanced robots are expected to enter in promising applications in our future society and bring substantial impacts. The increasing implementation of AI-based components even broaden their fields of application. To ensure that these impacts are positively reflected, today, we need to extend views not only on technical aspects but also on social challenges that we might face, including safety, regulation, ethics, human factors, and philosophy. The topics of ARSO 2025 include, but are not limited to the following: • Human-robot interaction in physical & psychological aspects • Safety standards for advanced robots & autonomous systems • Legal and ethical issues for advanced robots • Impact of robotics on society, e.g. robot business, marketing & economic impact • Robotics for sustainability, climate change or civil aid • Advanced industrial robots for future manufacturing • Healthcare & medical applications • Rehabilitation and transfer robotics • Service & assistance applications • Entertainment & education robotics • Robotics & autonomous driving • Bio-inspired robotics • Soft and wearable robotics Important Dates: Submission of Organized Session Proposal: Jan. 15, 2025 Initial Paper Submission: Feb. 28, 2025 Workshop Proposal Submission: Feb. 28, 2025 Notification of Paper Acceptance: Apr. 28, 2025 Final Paper Submission: May 30, 2025 General Chairs: Minoru Asada, Japan Silvia Rossi, Italy Program Chairs: Kensuke Harada, Japan Emel Demircan, USA Astrid Weiss, Austria Best regards, Yuji Kawai and Yukie Nagai, Publicity Chairs of ARSO2025 — Yukie Nagai, Ph.D. Project Professor, The University of Tokyo nagai.yukie(a)mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp | https://developmental-robotics.jp CREST Cognitive Feelings: https://cognitive-feeling.jp CREST Cognitive Mirroring: https://cognitive-mirroring.org

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PhD Opportunity: Machine Learning Methods for Invariant Representations
by Georgios Exarchakis Nov. 25, 2024

Nov. 25, 2024

Dear all, The *University of Bath* invites applications for a fully-funded PhD position in *Machine Learning*, as part of the prestigious *URSA competition*. This project focuses on developing *interpretable machine learning methods* for high-dimensional data, with an emphasis on recognizing symmetries and incorporating them into efficient, flexible algorithms. *Key Details* * *Supervisory Team*: Dr. Georgios Exarchakis & Prof. Michael Tipping * *Research Focus*: Interpretable and deep learning methods, feature learning, and invariant representations * *Applications*: Astronomy, quantum chemistry, medical imaging, computer vision, and more This PhD position offers the opportunity to work within a leading research environment, using state-of-the-art tools such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Scikit-Learn. The research outcomes have potential applications in diverse fields, and students are encouraged to bring creative and interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving. *Eligibility* Applicants should have a strong academic background in Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, or related fields (First Class or Upper Second Honours or equivalent). A master’s degree is advantageous. Non-UK applicants must meet the English language requirements. *Funding* The studentship covers tuition fees, a stipend of *£19,237 p.a.*, and access to a training support budget for 3.5 years. For more information and details on how to apply, visit UniversityofBathPhDOpportunities <https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/faculty-of-science-ursa-phd-project-m…>, or send an email to Georgios Exarchakis at ge394(a)bath.ac.uk. Applications close on *December 6, 2024.* Best, Georgios* *

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Post-doc position at EPFL on Computational Visual Neuroscience
by Dimitri Van De Ville Nov. 24, 2024

Nov. 24, 2024

Dear Comp-Neuro community, Kindly find a job ad for a post-doc position at EPFL on Computational Visual Neuroscience below. Best wishes, Dimitri — Post-Doctoral Researcher at EPFL on Computational Visual Neuroscience – start date ASAP Position Description We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher for a one-year (renewable) project within the MIP:Lab of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) located at the Campus Biotech in Geneva, Switzerland. The project is at the interface between an industrial partner (Dandelion Science) and the MIP:Lab headed by Prof. Dimitri Van De Ville. Start date is as soon as possible (date may be negotiable) and will last for approximately 15 months. At the end of the postdoc, there will be an opportunity to join the company as an employee. The post-doctoral researcher will join a team of academic and industrial group members to work on new computational modeling frameworks for rapidly time-varying functional networks in late sensory and non-sensory cortex in the context of biofeedback-influenced video viewing. A mix of theoretical, algorithmic, and empirical work is expected, in collaboration with an industrial partner in the healthcare technology/AI field providing behavioral and neural (streaming M/EEG) data. Some first-hand behavioral and neural data (M/EEG) is also expected to be acquired in the M/EEG Platform at the Campus Biotech. We are interested in maintaining the rich diversity in our work teams and encourage applications from all interested candidates. The salary range at EPFL is competitive and the quality of living in Switzerland is outstanding. Qualifications The ideal candidate will have a PhD, strong quantitative, signal processing, and machine learning skills, data analytic expertise (Python and Matlab), and enthusiasm for broadly advancing the treatment of neurological disorders. Experience with neuroimaging is required, preferably with human subjects. The candidate should be creative, enjoy problem solving, and be prepared to collaborate within a larger team with diverse expertise. Experience in commercial biomedical development is also preferred. Appropriate background/training includes systems or engineering, physics, machine learning and data science, as well as cognitive neuroscience. Application Instructions Please send your motivation letter, CV with publication list, one-page personal research statement, and contact information of three referees, to with subject line “[CV-POSTDOC] <Your Name>” to dimitri.vandeville(a)epfl.ch Job Type: 100% Work Location: In person — Dimitri Van De Ville Professor, Fellow IEEE & EURASIP Neuro-X Institute EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Professor, Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics University of Geneva Switzerland URL: http://miplab.epfl.ch/ Twitter: @dvdevill

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